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Report 343
Report #343 Skillset: Psychometabolism Skill: Mindfield Org: Nekotai Status: Completed Mar 2010 Furies' Decision: Solution 1 Problem: Mindfield in its current state functions as an inferior version of Aethersight, lacking the summoning/teleport identification feature in return for a few features of negligible use. Instead of costing power, it requires a channel lock to turn on, crimping the Psionic's flexibility. The "backlash" consists of what appears to be a paltry 5% health hit on an unfriendly scrying, which, as earlier reports have noted, are insufficient to discourage repeated attempts. Backlash against psychic damage from other players is a similarly low amount of health damage, against the few abilities that actually do psychic damage, and apparently only while the attacker is in the same room. Given that Psychometabolism must compete with Acrobatics, which offers superior versions of generally available skills, Mindfield is highly disappointing, entirely disposable, and in need of improvement. One or more of the following improvements could actually make the skill worthwhile: 0 R: 0 Solution #1: Remove the channel lock from Mindfield, and add an on/off syntax, similar to Psisense. Mindfield remains a poor substitute for Aethersight, to be dismissed immediately at Trans Discernment, but at least does not actively hinder a Psymet. 0 R: 0 Solution #2: Retain the channel lock on Mindfield, and add an affliction to the skill. On a successful scry hit, psionic power overwhelms the scryer's sight, causing the Crow Eyepeck affliction without generating an eyeball. This should dissuade repeated scrying attempts while adding a bit of flavor to the skill. 0 R: 0 Solution #3: Improve the range of abilities that trigger Mindfield backlash to all Psionics, Telepathy, and Telekinesis skills against the Mindfield user, not just ones that cause psychic damage. If implemented with solution 1, a slightly lower damage amount on trigger might be necessary. If implemented with solution 2, remove damage component, and instead give a percentage chance to pop an eye, roughly the same level as Phantasms PhantomArmour. Player Comments: ---on 3/3 @ 23:04 writes: I like solutions 1 and 3, but I'm against 2. Pecked eyes are a regeneration affliction, and giving a double regen affliction plus the effect of having no eyes for scrying somebody that may or may not have mindfield up seems like too much. Or used a dominate skill to force a scry in order to hit the person with double pecked eyes. And furthermore, given that Glomdoring actually has a use for pecked eyes and nobody else does, giving them the ability to aslo create eyes that way seems unfair. ---on 3/4 @ 15:20 writes: Solution 2 is way too much, even if it was one pecked eye. Maybe blind instead, though that seems equally as pointless. I think that solution 3 would be best route for making this actually useful. ---on 3/5 @ 06:12 writes: Solution 3 would be pretty crazy though, since it'd be what, 15% total health backlash per TK/TP combo? ---on 3/5 @ 06:36 writes: The point of the excercise is to give scrying against Mindfield something that says "Hey, I ---on 3/5 @ 06:37 writes: The point of the excercise is to give scrying against Mindfield something that says "Hey, I shouldn't scry against this guy again" without killing someone outright. It's going to have to be fairly severe, otherwise it's not going to get the job done. An herb cure probably isn't going to be enough to discourage people. Eyepeck came to my mind first because it's a regeneration cure, and readily noticable when it happens to you. Haven't really dealt with a lot of dominate skills, honestly, so I'm not sure exactly how easy it'd be to force someone to scry like that, but that's a valid point. Eyeballs... Nekotai can already act as spectacular eyeball dispensers. They aren't the rare commodity you think they are. And 15%, isn't that like, just one sip? If it remains a locked skill, the attacker can just read Disruption, anyway. ---on 3/6 @ 00:08 writes: Well, seeing as Glomdoring are the only people that use eyeballs, it's still unbalanced in their favor. But that's beside the point. The real problem is the possibility of forcing. For example, a Moondancer could just pooka a target to scry a monk, even if the monk wasn't in the room or anything, to cause double pecked eyes. That's way, way too powerful. ---on 3/10 @ 23:47 writes: It doesn't have to actually generate the eyeballs. In fact, it's probably better from a litter standpoint if they don't. Great. As for forcing... if someone was going to do it in combat, they'd have to A) catch the target on balance, B) know in advance what particular scrying method the target is going to have available, and C) hope that the method is out and ready. In the majority of cases, force- scrying would be easily thwarted by simply having your ring unworn or your map put away until it needs to actually be used. In any case, even if force-scrying is a viable strategy, it's one that's usable by all factions, as all of them have at least one guild with access to a dominate ability. ---on 3/11 @ 07:09 writes: Okay, forget the eyeballs, they're not the issue. But those issues with forcing are true for numerous actions that I've seen people force for, they're not really a stopping point to it. And it still remains that it would wind up in a double regen affliction. AND it would put the guilds that have a clear-cut scrying method at a disadvantage, because there wouldn't be any wondering about what they would have. Sure, maybe you run into issues with not knowing whether the person has scry or window, for example, but once you get the right one you can still run rapid double pecked eyes. And it would suddenly become a disadvantage to have scry or window as an actual skill, rather than an enchantment. Still too much. Solution 3 is better. ---on 3/11 @ 11:26 writes: For Solution 3, 15% might mean "just one sip", but that's potentially tying up every (or every second) potion balance if a TP/TK wants to be using a full combo every 6(?) seconds. So no wound curing, no sipping mana if you need to clot down bleeding. And the monk would still be hitting you. It might be easier to see my objection to this one if I reversed that comment and suggested that telepaths gained a skill which dealt a backlash of 5% ego damage per hit when a monk attacks (so 15% ego drained per monk combo). You could probably also cover that by sipping, but it's not counting in any of the other parts of their offense. Besides, Solution 3 doesn't do anything to help the anti-scrying part of the skill. Solution 2, the peckedeye on psychic damage would turn the skill into a passive regen affliction on a tic against illusionists (I believe both mages and bards get a psychic damage ticing affliction). That said though, I do think it needs upgrading. I'd go with Solution 1, at the very least, but I personally don't think passive Eyepeck or anti-TP/TK is the way to go. ---on 3/11 @ 22:20 writes: So is your problem more that the affliction is too strong, or that players with a dominate ability would have another way to cause an affliction? If it's the latter, that's really an issue with dominate. If it's just that the affliction is too strong, there're a number of other things that can be done in place of double eyepeck. Single eyepeck, guaranteed on scry, chance on psionics hit is one. Percentage willpower drain is another. There's also blackout, and/or a random selection from a list of mental afflictions. Power drain was suggested in an earlier report, and so was a new effect that actively just prevents future scrying, though those two options seem to have been passed over for whatever reason. There're a lot of things that can be done. I'm pushing for some sort of easily-noticable and hindering affliction, however, as that's what's most likely to get noticed and dissuade future scrying attempts. ---on 3/11 @ 22:36 writes: Solution 3 doesn't address the scrying problem because it's addressing a different area in which Mindfield is lacking. Mindfield's components are: scry notification for anyone not allied, a penalty to dissuade future scrying, and feedback against psionic attacks. The third part has been part of Mindfield's design from the beginning, just a part that nobody seems to be aware of because there are about four player skills that actually trigger it, and for whatever reason, you have to be in the same room for it to even go off like that. As stated above, I'd prefer some sort of affliction over damage, as it's more likely to get noticed. Maybe a percentage chance to pop an eye on a psionics ability hit in lieu of damage? Or whatever affliction is decided on? Passive affliction of this kind already happens with things like PhantomArmour, so I don't see a big issue there. ---on 3/12 @ 00:24 writes: Even a single pecked eye is too much, I think. Really it boils down to the fact that you're proposing to give monks (of all people) a passive, power-free regeneration-cured affliction. I would much rather go with something like phantomarmour if we have to go with giving monks passives. Blackout or a mental affliction would be better. Seems to fit the flavor more as well. ---on 3/12 @ 21:12 writes: There's no power cost on mindfield. Instead, there's a psionic channel lock, which means that if a psychomet is using the ability, he doesn't get to use a number of his active powers, or lock a different helpful power. This is far more limiting than a one-time power cost. I don't believe that it would be balanced to both get rid of the channel lock and have it cause afflictions, however, and I'll shortly be updating the solutions for final submission. I believe that single eyepop, guaranteed on scry, possibility on psionics hit will be balanced if the channel lock remains. If attacking a psymet with TK/TP, the way to not get hit is to read disruption. If scrying, the way to not get hit is to stop scrying (which is the point of the skill in the first place.) And if you're still getting hit with eyepop someplace you can't read disruption at the monk... your problem isn't the monk. ---on 3/12 @ 21:14 writes: Updated solution 2, which formerly read as follows: "2: On a scry hit, cause both of the scryer's eyeballs to pop out of his head, as per Crow Eyepeck. This will provide the intended discouragement from scrying and add a bit of flavor to a blandly-implemented skill. Consider single peckedeye on psychic damage." ---on 3/12 @ 21:16 writes: Updated solution 3, which formerly read as follows: "3: Improve the range of abilities that trigger Mindfield backlash to all Psionics skills against the Mindfield user, not just ones that cause psychic damage." ---on 3/12 @ 23:37 writes: I still think passive regeneration afflictions that come from a forceable action are too powerful, Scroll of Disruption aside. And I don't get how eyepeck fits the flavor at all. You cup your hands, fill them with water, look through it at somebody and... an eye falls out? Wot? It's a backlash against your mind, so stupidity/epilepsy/paranoia/whatever makes more sense. It's more balanced, makes more sense, and locking a channel for passive/forceable mental afflictions would be worthwhile. Possibly consider using the same affliction list as Moon's Dark or something. ---on 3/28 @ 15:45 writes: I'd say solution 1 here, having eyeballs burst when you scry seems a bit excessive to me. ---on 3/29 @ 16:39 writes: Solutions 1 or 2 are acceptable in my opinion. Solution 3 if it remained for psychic damage only, but entire TK/TP combos would be too much. Keep in mind that there are 3 psi attacks per combo, so as phantomarmour is ridiculous for monks, mindfield would be ridiculous for everybody it affects. Even moreso since eyepeck can stack with itself a bit, unlike blackout.